Most Russians have never lived as well as they do now. Nor do people believe that things are about to get worse. The fact that Russians are living better is evident from their outgoings. Spending at cafes and restaurants, for example, is increasing.
After the start of the war, inflation rocketed – but wages more than kept pace.
Demand for non-food goods (i.e. items where purchases can be postponed or even canceled) has recovered from its slump in the months after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Its rate of growth now exceeds both inflation, and wage increases.
This does not look like the sort of panic buying that happens in a crisis, when many rush out to buy whatever consumer durables they can afford. Instead, Russians appear to have sufficient confidence in their finances to take out personal loans. Consumer confidence is approaching record levels, Nabiullina told reporters on Friday.
Of course, increased prosperity is not universal. But those who have lost out are the more wealthy Russians. The average income of the richest 10% in Russian society has increased by 27% since the start of the war. While this may seem a lot, it’s the lowest rise of all 10 income groups, and barely matches the combined inflation rate for the past two years. Incomes for the poorest in society have grown much faster.
https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Russia
Oh wow. I think I might cry.
Right there with you. 😭
On background note, the GDP and the flawed financial measurement criteria by the Bretton Woods institutions do not measure cost of living because it will disprove the belief that Capitalism, which is a economic system that concentrates wealth to a few landowners contrary to the de jure Pax Americana redefinition, eliminates poverty. The Pax Americana creates the assumption that all countries and regions have minimal living expense requirement of $2 USD, and then use the high short-term financial growth under Capitalism to prove that Capitalism is eliminating poverty even when the temporary high financial growth masks decline in other dimensions that will lead to long-term financial regression.
Keep in mind, these are not good numbers. Official substiniance wage in Russia is around 13k rubles per month.
Average salary in my city is around 40-45k, skewed heavily by various overpaid fucks. Folks like store cashiers get only around half of that. And this is before rent.
So keep that in mind while lamenting how you're getting screwed over in the Imperial core.
Yeah I feel like a lot of people miss that point. Wages are still low, especially outside major cities. Not to mention the unequal distribution. Also for instance the cost of living in Turkey is also lower than the West, but it doesn't mean that the people living there can actually afford it. It only serves westerners who get to spend a cheap vacation there.
In my case, I make money via commissioned artwork, so my wages would be the same no matter where in world I am living. But over here I have to scramble to pay rent every month, but in another nation I would be much more secure doing the same thing and would be able to afford my basic needs much more easily. This is a pretty insensitive outlook though, which is why I deleted my other comment.
im not accusing lemmygrad members of this, im just very triggered by westerners travelling to non-imperial core countries, then coming back saying "wow everything is so cheap there :)" without actually considering the material conditions of the local population.
They’re killing us and trying to blame Russia for it 😭
Everyday is a battle of whether I should stay or go 😩
If you can move and maintain your quality of life or adjacent- IMO you absolutely should. There's no reason whatsoever to think things will get better, rather the opposite- the economy's fundamentals are all plummeting and worse news is on the horizon. IMO this country has a bright future as the next Argentina.
Yeah, if I could afford it I would absolutely move overseas. The way prices keep increasing, this time next year I literally won't be able to afford groceries anymore, so I'm stockpiling canned food hoping that I can weather it a bit more easily. Canned goods haven't increased in price too much (yet).
Really puts how much we're getting screwed in Canada into perspective.
Vijay Prashad remains correct. I don’t want to stay here anymore 😫